Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: Would Jesus give to panhandlers?

Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: Would Jesus give to panhandlers? December 7, 2016

Typical pandlander sign
© Digitalpress | Dreamstime.com – Homeless, Unemployed, Hungry Photo

Dear Thoughtful Pastor: I have often wondered how we should handle panhandlers?  Mostly I feel like it’s my job to be generous and let God sort it out but sometimes I feel like a schmuck when I give them cash. What would Jesus do?

For starters, I would suggest you start viewing panhandlers in a totally different way.

Think of them as door-to-door salespeople, much like children needing to raise money for school projects. The children walk to your house uninvited and ask you to buy something you cannot possibly want and is ridiculously overpriced. However, you but it anyway because you believe the sale supports a good cause so you feel good about it and you don’t have to give other time or energy away.

Panhandlers walk to your car or accost you without invitation and catch your eye. They, too, offer a way for you to give without investing time and energy.  Essentially, panhandlers are canny business people who sell, for your spare cash, a way for you to feel good about yourself.

So, what would Jesus do? A story in the Gospel of John, fifth chapter, gives us a clue.

Jesus has gone to Jerusalem for a festival. He heads toward the temple. His route takes him by the Pool of Bethesda, reputed to have healing properties. The disabled, homeless, poor, and despised gather around daily, anticipating the abundant foot traffic. They routinely beg money from everyone that passes by.

Clearly, panhandlers have a long history.

Jesus sees one man who has spent 38 years lying around the edges of that pool, begging from all. Jesus looks at the beggar. He asks a simple question: “Do you want to be made well?”

What an important and revealing question! Fascinatingly, the beggar does not answer the question. Instead, he offers an excuse–that no one would help him get into the pool at just the right magic moment when the waters, it was believed, are stirred by an angel.

Jesus ignores the excuse. He orders the man to stand up, pick up his mat and walk.

Now, consider what Jesus asks of that man: change everything he has ever done or thought about himself to this point in life. If he does what Jesus asks, i.e., receive the healing that is being offered to him, he will never again be able to beg for money. He will labor for his daily bread just like everyone else. He will never again self-identify as a victim of the indifference of others. By standing, he embraces the ability to step into the marketplace and compete with others for work.

The man takes Jesus up on the offer, stands up and picks up the mat he had spent his life on, and walks away. He also gets in trouble with the religious authorities the next day, a Sabbath. He was still carrying his mat, thus violating the proscription against working on the Sabbath.

The healed man immediately blames Jesus for his infraction.

Later, he meets up with Jesus again. Jesus tells him, “You’ve been made well. Stop sinning or you’ll get worse again.” I believe “sinning” here is equated with refusing to take responsibility for the self.

It looks to me like Jesus was offering an example of “tough love,” requiring that the recipient be an active agent in healing.

The beggar has to get up. He has to walk. He has to stop blaming others for his predicament.

Everything must change. All know the challenges of changing entrenched habits, even with considerable encouragement and support.

The bigger question: how we can offer healing? Please note here: I am talking about the able-bodied panhandler who could work but who chooses intrusive begging to bring in funds. I am not talking about the mentally ill homeless or the severely disabled. That’s a whole other story.

So with that caveat, again I ask: how can you and I offer a different way of living? Probably not by rewarding the canny and manipulative behavior of panhandling.

If we genuinely want to bring healing, we need to be among those who offer real support for the kind of changes that Jesus required. Frankly, engaging with someone on this level is certainly not nearly as easy as dropping a few bills in an outstretched hand and driving off.

I honestly don’t think Jesus would give funds to the panhandlers. I do think he would help them gain the skills necessary for finding work IF they are interested in changing their way of life.

Let’s face it: as long as panhandling is reasonably lucrative, people will try it. The only way to eliminate it is for everyone to participate in the healing by refusing to reach into their pockets.


Browse Our Archives